One way to determine an appropriate web site for your business is to consider:

• The type and number of products or services your business offers

• Your expectations and goals for Internet Marketing, as determined by your marketing plan

• The amount of time and/or money you can invest in your web site's creation and maintenance
  
  For many small and homebased enterprises, particularly those offering one general product or service, such as a consultant, insurance salesperson or photographer, a one page web site might be all that's necessary. You'll find that this can quite affordable and may be presented in a variety of styles.

  Designed as a brochure, a single page site produces a highly professional tool that can be marketed effectively online and can also provide hard copy advertising material when printed out.
  
  A multi-page web site is necessary when you want to display a number of graphic images of your products or want to provide separate pages for different products or services. Please read Design Factors - Part Two for more detailed information about designing a multi-page site.
  
  In addition to determining the size of your site, you'll also need to choose how it will be hosted. Here are two popular options for site storage:

  1. Subdirectory Server: which will provide you with a url such as: (http://www.serverdomain.com/yourcompany).

     The advantages of a subdirectory server:

     • Inexpensive
       
     • You likely won't have difficulty obtaining the subdirectory name you want
       
     • Opportunity to benefit from residual traffic if hosted with appropriate server.
     
     
     The disadvantages of a subdirectory server:
     • Temporary - you'll lose your links if you change hosts
       
     • Features are limited by host server
  2. Virtual Server: which will provide you with your own domain. ie http://www.yourcompany.com

     If you want to have a virtual server, you must have your own domain name and vice versa. You must register your domain name and pay the licensing fees in addition to charges for your virtual server storage.

     The advantages of a virtual server:

     • Permanent - as long as you continue to hold the license for your domain name
       
     • Produces stronger brand awareness
       
     • Email address associated with domain name can provide an effective marketing tool
     
     
     The disadvantages of a virtual server:
     • Higher cost in comparison to a subdirectory server
       
     • No residual traffic from server
  
  
  Choosing A Domain Name: If there's even the slightest chance you might decide to market your business online someday, you should obtain a domain now, if you haven't already done so.

  Whether you're ready to develop a web site at present or not or are starting with a subdirectory site, I recommend that you register a domain name for your business as soon as possible. Owning a domain name doesn't require you to do anything further with it until, and unless, you're ready to do so.

  As many are discovering, it's becoming increasingly difficult to obtain your first or even tenth name choice and this will only worsen as more sites are developed. The cost of licensing a domain is quite reasonable and
  
  In selecting a domain name, choose something easy to recall and easy to associate with your business. The closer you can come to achieving that, the more effectively your domain name will promote your business. Your domain name also provides a permanent email address, so it should identify your business if it's to market for you.
  
  

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